Abortion women told: 'see a lawyer first'

Marissa Calligeros

Women seeking abortions at public hospitals in Queensland will be advised to seek their own legal advice before receiving a medical termination in a step labelled "frightening" by one of the state's leading gynaecologists.

A draft Queensland Health consent form, sent to obstetricians last week, advises patients of the medical risks involved in the procedure but also encourages them to seek their own independent legal opinion.

The consent form, which also outlines the "psychiatric risks" associated with abortions, including anxiety disorders or depressive illnesses, has been drafted to break an impasse between doctors and the State Government following the prosecution of a Cairns couple for allegedly carrying out a medical abortion themselves.

Doctors at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital have refused to perform medical abortions since August, except in life-threatening cases, amid fears of prosecution.

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The draft form states: "If you have any concerns about your own legal position, please seek independent legal advice before proceeding with any further treatment."

Under Queensland's criminal code, abortion is unlawful unless it is performed to "preserve the woman from serious harm to her life or physical or mental health".

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The draft form also outlines the obligations of both the patient and her doctor to comply with Queensland law.

"When all of the requirements of this consent form have been fulfilled, Queensland Health considers that the treating team may lawfully perform the termination of pregnancy," it says.

However, Cairns gynaecologist Caroline de Costa - the first Australian doctor to gain permission to prescribe the controversial abortion drug RU486 - said the form would only alarm women already facing the trauma of a termination.

"It would be very disconcerting at the least and probably quite frightening to be confronted with this," Dr de Costa said.

"It's very hard for a woman to make a decision about abortion for herself anyway and to be confronted with the news that she may be committing a crime and she needs to understand this as well as the medical implications of having the procedure or not having it is a huge burden to place on her.

"I suspect there will be women who will prefer to go interstate rather than risk prosecution here."

It's very hard for a woman to make a decision about abortion for herself anyway and to be confronted with the news that she may be committing a crime and she needs to understand this as well as the medical implications of having the procedure or not having it is a huge burden to place on her

It is understood Queensland public hospitals have sent as many as 50 women seeking abortions for treatment interstate amid fears of prosecution under the state's existing laws.

Cairns woman Tegan Simone Leach, 19, was charged earlier this year for procuring her own miscarriage, while her partner Sergie Brennan, 21, was charged for procuring a miscarriage and supplying a drug, namely misoprostol.

Since Leach's arrest, doctors have lobbied the State Government to include medical abortions, using labor-inducing drugs, in the criminal code, which previously accounted for surgical abortions only.

"This is designed to cover Queensland Health if criminal proceedings should arise from the woman's procedure," Dr de Costa said.